


Like you? I freakin love you

by blacktipshark



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure tri.
Genre: F/M, Happy Ending, Light Angst, taiora - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:28:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23110021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacktipshark/pseuds/blacktipshark
Summary: She likes him, and sometimes thinks he likes her too. One drunken night, after the walk  back  home something happens that makes them have to deal with their feelings.
Relationships: Takenouchi Sora/Yagami Taichi | Tai Kamiya
Comments: 12
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A few days ago (because of a thread on twitter) I re started watching Digimon and remembered HOW MUCH I love this ship. And it was a little sad seeing there aren't many fics out there about them, so this is my little grain of sand. Hope you like it!

It was a warm summer night in the island of Odaiba. The sweltering days still a few weeks away, so now it was just breezy and cloudless. The moon shined bright and even the stars were visible despite the streetlights.

They were walking side by side on the sidewalk.

Even though it was the weekend the street they were on didn’t have many crowded places, and because of the hour, the shops were already close, so few people were walking by. The only noises were of distant cars passing by; otherwise their voices were the only sound filling the air.

“Daisuke cheated”

Sora laughed, “You guys were playing ‘who could drink an entire pack of beers faster’, _how_ could he cheat at that?”

Taichi narrowed his eyes and looked confused for a few seconds. “Dunno. But he did”

“You’re drunk” giggled Sora, who was a little drunk herself.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The group had been invited to dinner at Jyou’s new apartment. Although Sora would have thought it was more like the group had invited itself.

Given that Jyou was the oldest, he was the first of them to move on his own. This was the first Saturday he would be spending in his new house, so everyone insisted on having a small gathering to celebrate.

Iori and Ken were the only ones out of town, but the rest organized so everyone would help or bring something.

Since Taichi and Sora lived nearby, they were used to pick the other up when they were going somewhere. This time, Jyou’s apartment was closer to Sora’s, so Taichi and Hikari went by her place past eight.

The first thing Sora noticed when she opened her door were the four big brown bags where her friends’ faces should be.

“Hi!” Taichi greeted her, peering out from behind one of the bags

“What’s all these?”

“I was in charge of the drinks!” still smiling

After a struggle Hikari peered out from one of hers “Yeah!” she looked at Sora “and do you wanna guess how many actually are non-alcoholic?” she said in a sarcastic tone.

“Huh?” Sora took a quick glance at Taichi, who was suddenly very concentrate on the ceiling, before peering in one the bags Hikari was holding. “What! How did you even buy these?!” she turned to him, “Didn’t your parents take your fake ID away when you and Yamatto tried to sneak in to that concert a few months ago?”

He shifted his weight from side to side “Some guy from the football team _may_ have gotten me another one…” he said playing dumb.

Sora sighed, closed her door, and exchanged one of her bags (two plastic bags containing a plant each, from her mother’s flower shop, to give to Jyou) with one of Hikari’s to better distribute the weight.

The original plan was to walk to Jyou’s, but the bags were too heavy so they decided to take the train.  
Taichi and Hikari were sitting next to each other, Sora in front of them, with some of the bags on the sit next to her. Both girls’ eyes were on him.

“Would you guys stop looking at me like that!” he protested “Like I hadn’t seen _both_ of you drunk of your asses and throwing up in the bathroom”

Sora coughed a little to hide her embarrassment “It’s not the same, we’re going to _Jyou’s_ ”

“Did you guys know he has a girlfriend?” asked Hikari, trying to change the subject.

“What?!” screamed Taichi.

“Yes! But I asked him and she won’t be there tonight” Sora said.

“Oh, bummer, I wanted to meet her” complained Hikari

“Wait, what?!” asked an ignored Taichi again, looking from Sora to his sister. “When, _how,_ did this happen?!”

“Why are you acting so surprised? Jyou is a really nice guy! Plus he is considerate, mature…” Sora started to list.

“I’m nice and considerate” pouted Taichi, arms crossed and defensive, like she had said something against him.

“Forgot the mature part there, brother”

Both girls laughed.

“Hey watch it, I’m older than you”

“Yet not old enough that you had to get a fake ID” continued teasing Hikari “and you even made your little sister an accomplice!” she said brining a hand to her chest faking hurt.

Sora couldn’t help but laugh looking at the two siblings banter at each other. She also couldn’t help the feeling in her chest every time her eyes lingered a few more seconds on her childhood friend’s smile.

The sound of their voices and various noises from the train were slowly fading away as she started to lose herself in her own thoughts. Sora knew what she felt now. It had taken her a long time to accept her feelings for her friend, mainly because she hadn´t wanted to. Friends were all they had ever been, and she always thought that’s all they would ever be. So it was more than bothersome when words such as “handsome” started popping more and more often every time she looked at him.

At first Sora thought that what she was feeling would pass. It had started small; thinking of him as good looking, wanting to hold hands -fingers interlaced- with him on their way back from school. It just grew stronger and stronger, with him being more present in her thoughts

Images of lips meeting in a kiss, his arms embracing her and holding her, came at her at the most odd times. Be it in the classroom during a lesson, before a tennis match, while helping her mother in the flower shop, in her dreams…

No no! She wasn’t going to think about _those_ now.

Taichi was settling down in her thoughts and heart in a way no other boy had ever been. It had surprised Sora at first, but in another way, it hadn´t. And she knew she would have to do something about it, and soon. A part of her wanted to get this off her chest, even if it scared her. Besides… she didn’t want to think too much about it, but there were times when she though he could also like h--

“Sora!”

“Huh?” Sora was startled. Taichi was leaning in her direction, eyes fixed on her. “What did you say?” Hoping that her face wasn’t as red as she felt her cheeks warm.

“We get off at the next station” he pointed with his thumb at the sign blinking the name.

“Right” Sora said, and started grabbing some of the bags. She could still feel him staring at her.

Jyou’s apartment was just five minutes away from the station. They were greeted by the others who were already there; Koushiro had apparently arrived earlier to help Jyou install his internet connection, and Yamatto was finishing the cooking with Takeru’s help.

Jyou thanked Sora for the plants, and eyed disapprovingly at the alcohol, whilst Taichi tried explaining how this was a special occasion and he just _had to_ buy them.

The truth was only super responsible Jyou was in fact bothered by this, the rest of them were secretly glad the night could turn into a small party.

Without delay, in that way that is so easy for friends, they started talking and sharing about their lives as they prepared things for dinner.  
The hours flew by. They were sitting in a big circle in the living room. Yamato’s food was exquisite as always, and everyone served at least a second time.

Mimi spent most of the night re arranging various items in the apartment, and giving Jyou nonstop advice on how to redecorate it. They talked about school, hobbies, and other people in their lives. They all pressed Jyou to tell them about his girlfriend and demanded to see pictures of her. There was also talk about the future, how for Taichi, Sora and Yamato it’d be their last year of school. The blonde one made a gesture towards the apartment and said he was also planning on living alone once school ended. Although not entirely alone, since Takeru was going to live with him. Everyone said their congratulations.

They drank most of the drinks, but none of them were drunk yet, just merry. After the food and initial excitement was over, the conversations started to divide into groups.

Sora was left with Mimi and Miyako. They were talking about Mimi’s next trip abroad, but Sora wasn’t really listening. She was watching Taichi and Yamato talk next to the kitchen. They were talking about some of Yamato’s new songs, she had heard them when she passed by going to the bathroom. Taichi was talking all loud and excited, moving his arms around to accompany his words. Someone who didn’t knew him would’ve assume he was acting like that because he was drunk (half an hour ago the competition between he and Daisuke had taken place), but they knew that was how he is. Taichi knew how important his music was to Yamato, so of course he listened and talked, giving his confident opinion like he knew what he was talking about. She could see how Yamato repressed his laugh a few times, and Sora couldn’t help but smile.

They were really good friends, all of them. She was so glad that her relationship with Yamato hadn’t become weird or awkward after they broke up. Now that she was older, she wanted to laugh at herself for having been with him in the first place. She’ll always appreciate him, but it was obvious now that she had been attracted to an idea. For a 15 years old Sora, Yamato’s blue piercing eyes, blonde hair, mysterious attitude but sensible soul with a connection to music, and more mature than other boys his age, had been every teen girl’s ideal boy. They had probably started dating because neither had known any better and it had been comfortable.

Sora shifted her position a little on the couch next to her two friends, and sipped from her glass. She kept looking at the two boys.

Their relationship had been almost the same as their friendship had been, but with a few kisses in between. Of course she was younger then, but she doubted that even if they would’ve lasted till today, her mind would’ve had been filled with images of him as it was with Taichi.

Yamato had been the typical girl’s crush. Her feelings for Taichi were more like a wave that turned her heart upside down.

It was not the first time she wondered how could her feelings for him could’ve elude her for so long.

Sora took another sip. Maybe it was for the best, she thought, not realizing sooner. Taichi had been reckless, impulsive, and somewhat immature back then. If they had dated instead…and broken up…they probably would have remained friends…but good friends as before? Like her and Yamato were now? She doubted it.

Sora looked at her hands on her lap. That train of thoughts had unsettled her, and now, surrounded by all this merry talk, she felt sad. Suddenly the thought of acting on her feelings didn’t sound appealing at all.

As she was lost in her mind, head down and playing absently with her fingers, she didn’t notice that Taichi was looking at her from across the room with a worried face.

Taichi was listening to Yamatto talk about the songs he and his band wanted to record, and at the same time, taking glances at Sora, as he always found himself doing whenever she was around.

She had been acting weird since a few months now, like today on the train. She was more lost in her thoughts than she’d ever been. And maybe if a few of those times hadn’t had her looking unsettled like she was now, maybe he would’ve let it pass. Don’t get it wrong, he would’ve notice anyway, but this…he hated Sora looking like that. He wanted to fix whatever it was worrying her.

Besides, this was a happy occasion. All of their friends were here, if whatever this was could distressed her here, then it meant something important was troubling her, so he promised himself that he would ask her about it whenever they were alone.

Sora didn’t see him looking, which was kind of unfortunate, because it’s one of those looks that often made her think that maybe her feelings were reciprocated. She also missed when Mimi called Hikari and Kouishiro and joined them to the conversation. This way it was not so apparent when she grabbed Sora’s hand, and under a whispered “come with me”, she made them leave the circle, locking both of them in Jyou’s room.

“Mimi, what-?”

“You’re worrying for nothing” Mimi said, like she had read her mind.

In that moment Sora didn’t knew if she was glad or regretful of confiding in her friend with these new feelings.

“I, I don’t know” she started doubtful “Maybe it’s not such a good idea telling him” Sora sighed defeated, and sat on the bed.

Mimi sat next to her and started playing with some strains of her redhead friend’s hair, making a little braid on the side. “I’m sure he likes you too”

Sora wished she were as confident as her friend in these matters. _“Maybe if I were as pretty as her I would be”,_ she thought and wanted to slap herself, because on top of it all, now she had to start feeling insecure about her looks too.

“There” Mini said once the little braid was done. She was smiling at her, and somehow, her friend’s confidence made Sora feel a little better. The anxiety was still there, but at least the sadness seemed to be gone for the moment.

“Thanks Mimi” Sora stood up, and headed to the door “we should go back to the others”. But as she was about to turn the door knob Mimi stopped her “Wait” and hurried to Sora’s side to rearrange her skirt so it looked shorter now.

“What are you doing?!”

“Just in case he needs a little enticement” she winked

“Mimi!” Sora took Mimi’s hands off her “we are going back home _with his sister_ ”

“So? Hikari can look at your ass too, although, no offense, I think she likes Takeru’s more” Mimi opened the door and as she was about to turned on the hallway, she turned to Sora, pointing at the skirt “I don’t see you fixing it either”, and with that she disappeared through the hallway.

Sora was left standing alone in the room, and turned to look at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing an aquamarine tight tank top with a small cut, but enough to show some cleavage, and black skirt. She knew Taichi sometimes looked at her; she had caught him before, and his response was always that typical goofy smile of his. But Sora was pretty sure –wanted to be- that some of those times there was a slightly pink tint in her friend´s cheeks.

Sill looking at herself in the mirror she realized she wants Taichi to think of her as sexy. That she wants those looks he gives her to be of want, not just of like –if that’s what they indeed are in the first place.  
Sora touched the hem of her skirt and thought that she’d like to feel Taichi’s hand under it. That thought made her feel hot all over, especially her face and between her legs. She cursed herself, because mental pictures of her dreams were they wear little to no clothes were popping in her head.

Sora had liked other guys after Yamato. She had even gone to a couple of dates and kissed passionately some of them, but nothing further than that. The thought of some guy touching her in a more intimate way had never crossed her mind the way it was doing now. And somehow the thought of Taichi being the one doing it stirred her up.

“Stop it you perv”, she said to the reflection in the mirror, and after a few deep breaths to recompose herself, left the room.

In the living room, everyone was helping clean up. Sora went next to Hikari to help her with the dishes.

“Man, I can’t believe we ate all of it” Hikari said lifting one of the plates so Sora could see the barely visible little crumbs on it “I hardly have to wash them”

“I think I saw Daisuke actually liking one during dinner”

They were both laughing when Taichi approached them carrying a broom. Hikari looked at her brother and leaned to whisper to Sora “I think I saw him do it too”

Taichi watched this exchange of laughs not understanding “Hey so…you guys” he started with a sheepish smile. ”Would you mind if we walk back home?” he scratched his head, “I think I may need a little fresh air”

“Because you are drunk” Sora said with a grin

“I may be, a little bit” he said although he was more than just a little.

“Yes, we can walk” Sora said while putting some dishes away “We were supposed to come here walking and go back by train, so…” she shrugged.

Taichi launched towards her and grabbed one of her hands “Yes, thank you, Sora! You’re the best!”

Sora chuckled. In any other context Taichi grabbing one her hands would be nothing out of the ordinary, but right now she still had traces of her last thoughts about him, and the warmth of his hands wasn’t helping at all. _“Please if I blush, don’t let them see it”_

“Uhm…actually” started a left out Hikari “with Takeru and some of the others were thinking about grabbing some ice cream”. She saw her brother opening his mouth to protest, probably about the hour, so she lifted and shook her hands in front of her in defense “It won’t be long, I promise! And Takeru can accompany me on the way back” she saw her brother squint mistrustfully at that “t-the others can accompany me too“. She met both hands in a pleading gesture “Pleeease? You guys don’t mind walking back alone…” she directed her gaze to their still linking hands and smirked “…right?”

Taichi saw her looking and dropped Sora’s hand faster that it had been on fire. He looked at the floor clearly embarrassed, and scratched his head “Sure, fine, whatever”.  
Sora could swear his cheeks and ears were pink, and her chest fluttered. _“Could it…could it actually be…?”_

“Thanks!!” beamed Hikari.

“But I’m making Takeru uncomfortable before we leave just in case” He ignored Hikari’s protests and turned to leave without looking at Sora.

“Gosh, he is unbelievable! Poor Takeru” Hikari complained, Sora said nothing; she was still too caught up in what just happened. Hikari placed her last plate on the counter and looked at Sora grinning “Is your skirt shorter?”

Sora almost dropped the plate. “I need to go to the bathroom before we leave!” screamed louder than intended, and practically bolted to the bathroom. She could still hear Hikari’s laugh in the hallway.

Once on the street they all said goodbye to each other. Jyou went back inside the building, Mimi, Koushiro and Yamato headed up the street, Hikari and the other younger ones to the corner, and Sora and Taichi down the street.

“Hey!” Taichi yelled at the younger group just as they were about to turn on the corner. When they turned around, he looked directly at Takeru, made a V-sign with his index and middle finger pointing at his eyes, then at Takeru’s. The blonde one gulped and Hikari stuck her tongue out to her brother.

“I’m serio-“

“Just cut it out already!” Sora scolded him while grabbing his arm “Come on, you” and dragged him down the street.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

So here they were now. Walking side by side, bumping shoulders and brushing hands more than usual. He was talking to her about football practice, stopping at times in between to kick an empty can he had found a block behind to illustrate better. But he was still drunk so half of his demonstrations failed miserably. He tried to act like he was offended by her laughing at him, but that failed too because he was also laughing.

“I bet I can juggle it 20 times without dropping” he said whilst maintaining the can in his foot for a brief second before juggled it to his other foot in a little jump.

“Can’t we just say I believe you can do it?” Sora asked giggling. “I mean I’ve seen you done it before”

“Nope” started juggling “because I have to convince you that I’m not as drunk as you think I am”

Sora stared at him and was sure that, drunk or not, nobody made her laugh more than him.

“And Yagami just keeps on surprising us” he started narrating, adding a higher jump and quick turn to the juggle “His precision is amazing, I’ve never seen anything like this!” about halfway he took a quick glance at her and his heart skipped a bit. Sora was staring at him with this warm smile of affection that made him feel important, the only one she was paying attention to. He wanted to burn that image in his brain and stared a bit longer than he should have. He delayed in bringing his foot forward after kicking the can with the other, so when he rushed to catch it, he lost his balance a little. “Wow that was a close one! But he is still capab-“ He wanted to continue as before, but adding the narration made it worse because it divided his concentration and impaired his already compromise balance. But she was _staring at him_ and he didn’t want to disappoint, so he wrongly prioritized keeping the juggle before keeping his balance, which resulted in a fall to the floor.

“Ouchchch” he winced from the floor.

Sora ran and crouched besides him, putting her hand on his arm. “Are you okay?” She asked with a tone of concern in her voice and he felt a pang in his chest.

“Yeah, just…” he lifted his right hand, the one that had taken most of the fall, to showed her the scrape “but it’s nothing, my pride took the biggest blow” He said laughing to reassure her, but felt more embarrassed that what the situation required. To prove her that he was fine, he quickly stood up, lifting her up with him. “See?” He dusted his pants.

Their walk became quieter after that, and yawns from the both of them began to appear. Sora changed the subject and began telling him about her upcoming tennis matches. They were both fully aware that since the fall, neither Sora had let go of his arm, neither he had let go of her hand. But both were pretending not to notice.

Taichi’s heart was beating so hard that he was sure it was going to jump through his ribcage. When he lifted his head he could see Sora’s apartment at the end of the next block. He swallowed and for a few seconds he stopped listening to her talk. Soon they would be saying goodbye and he’d have to keep the rest of the walk alone. He didn’t want to let her go just yet; moments like these were so precious to him. It probably was the alcohol’s influence, because he felt more miserable than any other time this had happened. He felt stupid wishing with all his heart that something would happen so their walk wouldn’t end.

But it did, and they were now standing at the foot of the building ‘stairs leading to Sora’s apartment.

“So…”she said letting go of his arm.

“So…” he repeated after her. And as soon as they were no longer holding each other, he put his hands in his pockets because the emptiness in them right now felt unbearable.

“Uh, do you want to come in?” she asked surprising him. “I-I mean, your hand” she gestured towards his right hand “Let me treat it, ´cause I’m sure you’re going to forget when you get home”.

He indeed had forgotten all about his stinging palm. “Yeah, that sounds like me”, he chuckled.

  
They climbed the stairs in silence, Sora was ahead of him, and wondered if he was looking at her ass. She imagined herself turning around and catching him in the act. A warm wave passesed through her body just by imagining it.

Once inside Taichi started removing his shoes in the dark, trying to make the slightest possible sound, afraid of waking up her mother. Sora turned on the lights “She is not home, she went to spend the weekend at an inn with a friend, so you don’t need to be careful”.

She entered the bathroom and looked through the cabinet for the first-aid kit. He just stayed in the middle on the room not knowing what to do, as if he hadn't been in this house a million times. Once she found it, stood up, smiled at him as she lelt the bathroom with the box in his hands, and told him to follow her as she entered her room.

They sat in the bed, white little box between them. She started cleaning his hand with some wet wipes. The room was in total silence, and for some reason she couldn’t quite grasp, it was an awkward one. It was ridiculous, they’ve been alone in her room countless of times, but this time felt different. The room felt heavy, charged somehow. She stole quick glances at him. “ _He’s thinking something”_ ; Sora could practically see the gears turning in his head.

He talked when she was looking for the right items in the box. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Sora almost jumped in her place. She didn’t know what he was referring to, but given that her thoughts were right on the surface, the first thing that came to her mind was _“Ohgod he knows”._ “Wha-What do you mean?” she asked with a timid smile.

Taichi shifted in his place. “It’s just…you’ve been acting weird. For a long time actually, like you are too much on your head, although maybe more recently?” He talked without looking at her. Head down, and eyes fixed on her hands working on his. “I didn’t say anything earlier because I knew you’d tell me if you needed to. And when you didn’t, I just figured maybe it wasn’t something important. But…” He scratched his cheek and looked briefly at her, he seemed uncomfortable. “But then there was today…and, and that other time also, two weeks ago I think, when we were all having fun at recess, and suddenly you had that face. That sad face” He winced as she applied the alcohol on his palm. Sora didn’t know what to say. She knew he knows her, they’ve know each other for years and been through a lot together, but it seemed he pays more attention to her that she gave him credit.

He continued “I said to myself that I was going to ask you about it today. But then I saw that Mimi took you away, and when you came back you were feeling good again.” He scratched his head with his other hand and laughed, but it was a hollow laugh. “So I’m guessing it’s just boy trouble, right? A-and I guess talking it with a girlfriend is more comfortable. So uhm, so maybe it’s pointless to say it now, but…you know you can tell me everything, right? Even…even _that stuff._ We are friends…” and Sora thought she heard the word “friends” sounded pained. “And you can always count on me, okay?”

Sora felt such a pressure in her chest. _“TELL HIM”_ her brain was screaming. He likes her, doesn’t he? She read the signs correctly, right? His concern, the looks he always gave her, the way he didn’t let go of her hand on the walk home, everything seemed to point in that direction, right?

_Right?_

But he was also still a little drunk, as was she. And they were both tired, their yawns appearing more often in the last hour. The digital clock on her nightstand showed it was 3.20 in the morning. And she hadn’t stopped thinking about this all day; so it was possible she was just imagining what she wanted to be true.

So maybe, even if she was right…this wasn’t the right time to tell him about her feelings…

“Sora?”

Sora realized she hadn’t said anything yet. “Y-yes, okay” she stammered “I know you’re always there for me, Taichi. I’m okay, really, it’s just something I’m working on, but you don’t need to worry. And… and I promise I’ll tell you soon” She finished the bandage of his hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

He smiled back in relief. The bandage was done, but she hadn’t let go of his hand yet, and he wasn’t moving either. _“Have we been sitting this close all this time?”_

There was nothing more to do. He had accompanied her to her house, asked her what was troubling her, and she had answered, the bandage was done, there was nothing more to do. He would be leaving now and she didn’t want him to.

If only she knew he had had this same feeling moments before.

She just wanted to keep the conversation going, so against her tiredness she asked the first thing that came to her mind that knew would distract him “You’re not gonna give Takeru crap when he brings your sister home, aren’t you?” Even though Hikari had almost sure already arrived.

He leaned back against the wall, sitting more comfortable. The tension in the room was fading away. “Of course I am, she is my little sister” he said like that alone was reason enough to justify his overprotective behavior.

“You don’t even know if there really is something between them” Sora tried to reason, but she knew there was.

“Please! And even if there isn’t, he’s _clearly_ trying to”

“Actually…” she started teasing, bringing her index finger to her chin “from the looks of it, it seems Hikari is the one initiating things” He looked at her in horror, and Sora just burst out laughing. His reaction was funnier than she had expected.

“Take that back! She is a _BABY!_ ”

But Sora just kept laughing. “She’ll be fifteen in a few months! She is clearly _not_ a baby. Besides, it’s the normal age to start dating and that kind of stuff”

Taichi stuck his tongue out in disgust, like he was about to vomit, and that made them both laugh. It felt nice, like being ten again and they went to her (or his) place after football practice and just hanging out for hours, joking and laughing about the dumbest of things.

“Why did you never have a girlfriend?”

Silence. The words were out of her mouth before she could even process them. _Damn it._ Damn alcohol was still in her system. She should’ve prepared some coffee when they arrived. _Well, too late for that too._

He shrugged, avoiding her gaze “Dunno. Just didn’t”

“Yeah, but-“She leaned forward, crossed legged, hands on her knees. Part of her just wanted to drop this conversation and go back to the fun. But the other part of her was curious. He was nice, handsome, a good friend to everyone, brave, at school he was the captain of the football team…And she had heard some girls talk about him from time to time, yet he had never being in a relationship. She realized that after all the comings and goings in his mind about her feelings; this was the first time she was thinking about him with other girls. The image stung a bit.

“I’ve seen girls flirt with you at school, and yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with the same girl for more than a week”. 

“No but, there was that one, what’s her name, that I’m sure lasted at least three weeks” he joked defensively, trying to keep the subject on a lighter note, but it produced the opposite effect on her.

“Wow… ´whats her name´” she repeated in a lower voice, and tried to make a joke that didn’t do it for her “she seems like someone you really cared about”

“Well what do you want me to say, Sora?” he lifted his arms in exasperation, but it was the raising of his voice what surprised her. “No, I didn’t care about her, I didn’t care about any of them” She could see he was not mad _at_ her, and he was even more defensive than before. “Why are you asking this all of the sudden? Maybe I don’t want a girlfriend, okay? I- I’m busy…with stuff.” He crossed his arms like that implied the subject was over.

Sora stared at him incredulous. _“I don’t want a girlfriend”_ echoing in her mind. Why didn’t she ever think of that? This conversation was opening her eyes to questions she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of before.

What was the point of telling him how she felt, if he didn’t want to be in a relationship? One thing was risk telling him and not knowing what his answer could be, but this…?

Did she want to get this weight out of her chest that much, that she was prepared to face his rejection?

Suddenly she felt like crying. _“Don’t you dare”_ Head down, she bit her lip and hugged herself.

Taichi looked at her and felt guilty. He knew he had upset her, but couldn’t figure out why. He wanted to say something but his brain wasn’t working properly and he was tired. Plus half of what he had said was already lost to him now. Maybe he shouldn’t had raised his voice. He opened his mouth to say he was sorry because it was the only thing he could think of, when she spoke.

“So... you have never liked anyone? _”_ It was almost a whisper.

Why was she still asking him these things? What was this question going to accomplish? Was she that much of a masochist that she wanted to keep hearing of his lack of interest in romance? Or maybe this was what she needed, to stop thinking about him this way. Then she could cry her eyes out the moment he leaves, and think about the way she’ll deal with it come morning.

But the blow didn’t come, and more seconds passed of no answer. She had said it so low that maybe he hadn’t heard her. Wondering if she should ask it again, she lifted her head to looked at him and saw him struggling. He heard her.

He opened his mouth to say something but no sounds came out, so he closed it. “I...” He was making an effort to look everywhere except her. He didn’t know what to do with his hands so he squeezed them between his knees. He shrugged “Why does it matter?” he said with a short humorless laugh. “She doesn’t see me that way” voice cracking at the last two words, and the _way_ he said it, with a tone so defeated, that if it hadn’t been because she was in front of him, she would’ve never believed her friend was capable of such.

Sora looked at him and regretted it the moment she saw his face. She regretted her question, and all this conversation. She wanted to turn her head away, because the smile that was in front of her right now was the saddest thing she had ever witness. _“I did that”_ Whether it be because she made him think of this girl he clearly didn’t want to talk about, or because she was the one he was referring to, it didn’t matter to her. It should, but right now all she coul think about was how to erase that expression from his face.

Because he was the brave one; always ready to face any danger thrown at him. The one that never doubted putting himself out there to help others. So active and full of life. The one with the brightest and loudest smile. He should _never_ sound like the way he did just now. That expression on him wasn’t right.

So Sora threw a pillow at his face.

“What the--?” 

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!” She brought both hands to her mouth. “I didn’t… I-I don’t know why I did that, I just…I couldn’t bare your face just now”

“Huh?” he frowned confused “Geez, thanks for that compliment”

She chuckled. “No, I mean…uh” She looked at him “I don’t know… I’m sorry about before…You didn’t want to talk about it and I insisted…It wasn’t right, sorry”

Taichi looked thoughtful, eyes on the pillow between his hands, and half smiled. “It’s fine, it doesn’t matter”. He turned to her, smiling wider to reassure her, and to lighten the mood a little he hit her gentle on the knee with the pillow. Sora smiled back.

Distracted and almost without thinking it, she grabbed one of the other pillows that were at her side and hit him in the same manner on the arm.

He lifted an eyebrow, the competitiveness starting to show and grinned. He didn’t say anything but the ´Do you really wanna start this?´ was written all over his face. And Sora thought that maybe she did, so in response she hit him again, a little harder this time.

And just like that they started hitting each other with the pillows. The bed ground a little when he half stood in it with his knees to hit her from a higher angle.

Laughs and screams were half muffled by the pillows when one hit them on the face.

He was stronger than her and had the advantage that she was still cross-legged from before, so she grabbed one pillow in each hand and started hitting him nonstop. Except using both arms meant that now she had no support to steady herself, so she fell on her back.

She used one of the pillows to protect herself while hitting him on the side with the other. At some point he grabbed another pillow too.

This night had been a rollercoaster of emotions since it began, and she wanted to end it on a good note at least.

But Sora would be damn if she was going to let him win. They both play sports, he wasn’t the only competitive member of their group. So against her tiredness she made one last effort and put all her strength in her legs to unfold them, at the same time she extended the arm with the pillow she was using to protect herself, to hit him again also.

But she miscalculated one of her legs, and instead of going besides him, her right heel hit him on the side. She was so caught up in the moment that didn’t register the force of her kick. So when he bent over towards his side, she hit him with all her strength right in the face, causing him to stagger backwards. She saw him loose his balance. He was going to fall off the bed if he didn’t land right, so she grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled him towards her, making them both fell to her side.

He avoided actually falling on top of her, but her body was trapped under his nonetheless. One of her legs was between his. Her right hand was grabbing his arm, and her other hand was still grabbing his collar. The arm that she was grabbing was at the height of her stomach, and his other hand was on her shoulder. The only sound in the room were their pants. They stared at each other. They both had color on their faces, but whether it was from the fight before or this awkward position, she couldn’t tell. They didn’t know how long they stayed like this.

He was the one to talk first “That hurt” he chuckled attempting a pained face, but didn’t move.

Sora half smiled “I’m sorry”. She didn’t attempt a movement either.

He directed his eyes to the hand that was actually on her, just below her shoulder. His thumb was almost touching the strip of her bra. Sora could see him lower his gaze a little further south, and heard his breath became more ragged. He was looking at her breasts. Sora could feel her face heat up and her heart beating so fast and loud she was sure he could hear it.

His eyes were fixed in her cleavage, following the ups and downs her chest made when she breathed. He swallowed. Sora studied his face, his blush was more intense and the tips of his ears were now red too. She could see his neck and a bit of his chest because of the collar she was still holding -tighter now- got that red tint also.

She could feel the heat reach other parts of her body, but she continued looking at his face, every inch of it, like she wanted to memorize it. The dark circles under his eyes were deeper than they were an hour ago, but that didn’t make him any less attractive. His messy hair was falling forward. She wanted to touch his cheek and feel how warm it was, but didn’t, just clenched his collar even tighter.

Sora saw him moving his head a bit, bringing his gaze even lower. His mouth was partly open; he gulped again, but couldn’t seem to close it. She had to make an effort to stop looking at his face and followed his line of vision. Her breathing stopped.

Her skirt was up.

She could hear her heartbeat even louder in her ears.

It was not _all_ the way up, just one side, but her entire leg was showing, and a bit of the side of her white underwear was visible too.

She started getting nervous, her body was burning up and the heat within her legs made her want to rub them a little, but he was watching her and she was unable to.

She didn’t know how to feel, being this exposed made her feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. But at the same time, feeling _his_ eyes on her, studying, _devouring_ her, made her feel like she was the most wanted thing in the world.

The situation was unbearable, she felt so inexperienced, she didn’t know what to do, and he wasn’t moving either. She needed to shift, to move, she needed to do _something._

Sora closed her eyes and tried to relax her mind; concentrating on her breathing to slow it down back to the most normal she could manage. She relaxed the grip on his collar but didn’t let go of it.

She tried to feel all her body through her breathing and, despite her disbelief, was actually working. But then her attention was directed to a point of warmth that’s not coming from her. The hand holding his arm twitched. His skin was hot; she relaxed that hand a bit too. Her eyes were still close; she was trying to concentrate on the warm sensation in her hand, put her mind blank, and just giving in to the feeling. She started moving her hand up and down in slow motion, caressing his arm. Feeling the short hairs of his arm on the tip of her fingers. Anxiety was slowly starting to return, but it was a different type, exhilarating.

She took one last breath before opening her eyes again. He was staring at her and blinked when they made eye contact. He was breathing faster; she could even hear the air from his nose when he exhaled. Eyebrows slightly furrowed and eyes fixed on hers, like he wanted to ask her, plead something. Nobody had ever looked at her this way, but she was certain this was how want looked like. The experience was too surreal to stop and analyze everything she was feeling. There was pain in his expression too, so she tried to smile despite the hurricane of emotions in her chest.

Her smile perplexed him; she could see it in the way his eyes shot wide open, pupils dilated. His eyes went to where the hand on top of her was and he squeezed the skin below her shoulder. His thumb was touching the strip of her bra now, it lingered there a second or two, and hand shaking he started slighting it incredibly slow toward her breast. His mouth was a thin line, and his eyes were fixed in what he was doing, but all of the sudden a flash of alarm crossed his face.

“I-I need to leave!” he said in panic.

_What?_

In a quick move he pulled out the hand touching her and tried to stand up but bending at the same time.

Besides her leg was between his, and he was having a hard time getting up without straighten.

Sora was baffled, she didn’t understand what was happening, and everything was happening fast, so she acted without thinking. She grabbed him when he was trying to lift one of his legs, so when she pulled him towards her he lost his balance. And because her mind hadn’t yet caught up to what was happening, she pulled harder than intended. This time he did fall on top of her.

She felt all his heavy weight on hers. Part of his hair was on her face; his chest was pushing down hers. She could also feel his body was all tensed up and that he was about to stand up again. She was so confused. She wanted to ask what the hell was going on, so she started to get up as well, but in doing so the leg that was trapped between his pushed up and-

_Oh._

He gasped and her breath got caught in her throat. Taichi stood up a bit “F-fuck, I-I, I’m...” he tried speaking but no cohesive words came out. He was so ashamed he couldn’t look at her. He bit his lip and gave up on his desperation to stand up for the moment. What was the point anyhow, he _knew_ she had just felt his boner on her leg.

Sora was speechless. _I just felt his…his…_ She felt hot all over. _Does this mean…? Does this mean he_ wants _me?_

Her body was moving before she realized it. Her hands grabbed his face, and gently turned it to hers. She leaned forward to bring her face closer to his. Taichi’s eyes were wide open, there was no way that what he thought was happening was true, and he was about to say her name when she tilted her head and finished closing the space between them.

Their lips met. Sora didn’t put much pressure into it; it was sweet kiss of lips just touching.

His lips were a bit chapped, but they were also soft, and she liked the feeling of that contrast on hers. His scent went through her nose directly to her head; it was a mix of his personal scent, sweat and traces of deodorant and alcohol. It was heady and she gave in. Her eyes were closed, just taking in the feeling of his lips against hers. They stayed like this just a few seconds, both still, and before moving away she gave him another much shorter and quicker, more a peck than a kiss.

Sora moved away and opened her eyes to look at him, hands still on his face. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized was holding. His eyes were wide open, unfocused, he was so still it seemed like he wasn’t even breathing. His expression was pure astonishment.

A flash of doubt and fear crossed her mind, and she became terrified that she had made a mistake. But Sora didn’t even get to finish that thought when he leaned forward so fast, almost tripping, grabbed her face and smashed their lips together again.

While hers was tender and gentle, his was harsh, passionate, grabbing the back of her neck, in what could only be described as desperation. Their noses collided. He leaned forward with such force and brusqueness that it threw them both back against the mattress.

Taichi was kissing her hard, their lips barely pulling apart before he grabbed her mouth with his again. They turned into urgent, open mouthed kisses fast and he missed her mouth a couple of times, but it just made the situation even more stimulating for her.

He was grabbing her face now too, so Sora moved her hands from his, running them down his neck, and back to hug him. Bodies even more closer, chests touching, surrendering more into the kiss, she opened her mouth the moment she felt his tongue touching her lips.

He wasted no time and entered, delving inside her mouth. She took a few seconds of adjusting to this new pace, but quickly responded back the same. It was warm and hot, and she felt wetness between her legs. One of his hands was now on her hip, grabbing and touching all the skin he could found without lifting her tank top too much. She felt a craving in the pit of her stomach start to form, but she couldn’t tell exactly what for, so she gripped him closer to her.

Their breaths turned as erratic as their kisses. Taichi felt the need taking over him and started rubbing his erection against her tigh, needing the friction to provide him of some sort of release. He started slow but steady, the fact that minutes before he had been terrified of her noticing how horny he had been now completely forgotten.

The neediness didn’t let him let go of her lips, so he missed hearing her first moans because they just went into his mouth. And he was so lost into the kissing and rubbing that he hadn’t realize that in doing that, he was pressing and rubbing his own thigh between hers.

The need for friction grew stronger and his pace became faster and erratic. Sora felt how the kisses were briefly interrupted by his grunting. The gripping at her hip was starting to hurt but she didn’t care. She shuddered when he trailed his open mouth trough her neck, grazing his teeth against her skin. Hiding his head in the crook of her neck, Taichi started giving quick kisses alternating between her neck, shoulder and collarbone, only stopping when low, rough groans escaped his throat.

Now that her mouth was free Sora realized she was making more sounds that she thought. Little needy moans one after the other every time he pushed his thigh between her legs. She felt embarrassed but couldn’t do anything to stop them.

Taichi finally made the connection of what it was that he was doing that caused them, and the hand that was grabbing the back of her neck flied down without hesitation between her legs. His touch went above her underwear but even then he could feel how wet she was, and his mind went into overdrive. He pressed his fingers causing a jolt of pleasure run through her and Sora actually cried out.

He lifted his head straight away from her neck to look at her, the hand between her legs stayed there, fingers trembling, but otherwise still.

Her face was flushed, hair in disarray, mouth partly open, her eyes were fixed on his, panting. Taichi thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Furthermore, _he_ was the cause she was like this; the girl of his dreams was wet because of _him_. A shaky breath left his mouth, he felt his head was going to explode.

“F-fuck Sora…”

She didn’t realize when, but at some point during the make out he had unzipped his pants, and the pressure of his boner on her thigh felt more prominent now that the thin fabric of his boxers was the only thing in between.

Taichi, breath shaking, started slowly pressing his fingers, making eye contact with her while doing so, wanting to have the full view of her reaction. Her mouth let a silent moan form when in short movements he caressed the little nub with his middle finger.

It became too overwhelming for Sora, she rubbed her legs together and he withdrew his hand. She grabbed him from the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her, sliding more to the side so they could change the position a bit. She took advantage of the moment when they were both on the side facing each other, and when she pulled him on top of her again, both of her legs were closed between his.

They went back to the heavy, mouth opened kissing, now more comfortable with each other when one wanted to make it deeper with tongue. He let his mouth travel from her lips, to her neck, shoulders and chest, almost like he didn’t want to leave anything left uncover. Sora took both hands up to the height of her head to grab the sheets, taking pleasure in the way he was kissing her, only tightening her grip when she felt his teeth biting the skin of her neck. He never stopped grinding her, and now there was an added wetness to it from his part too.

She gave in the sensation and started losing track of the exact place his mouth was. The wetness she felt against her stomach in contrast with its hard shape made her head swirl, and she found herself lost in trying to picture how it’d look like. So it took her by surprise when she felt his mouth below her belly button and his fingers hooked on both sides of her underwear, pulling it down.


	2. Chapter 2

Sunlight was coming through the bedroom’s window; Taichi could feel the warmth of it on his face. He squeezed his already closed eyes harder. He didn’t want to wake up yet. Traces of one of the best dreams he had ever had were still running through his body. He shifted on the bed, rubbing his face against the pillow, which for some reason felt warmer than usual. He knew the dream was long gone by now, but he wanted to keep the sensation in a while longer. But even through his closed eyes, the light was beginning to bother him. _Did I leave it open?_ He thought, but couldn’t remember. Little by little, he could feel that pleasant feeling leaving him, and taking up in its place a pounding throbbing pain in his head. He should get up.

He started opening his eyes but needing to bring a hand to cover them. There was _so much_ sunlight it hurt his eyes and head, and he also felt nauseous. Taichi knew there was no other explanation than a hangover, and decided right there that he was not going to get up just yet, but he needed to close those damn curtains. Peering through his fingers so his eyes could start adjusting to the light, the confusion lasted a second, when he noticed this was not his room, but one that he knew well. Sora’s room.

_“That’s right; I walked her home last night.”_

And he was hungover from their dinner at Jyou’s. Everything was still a little fuzzy but he remembered those.

While sitting up he realized two things: one, his hand hurt when he put his weigh on it, and had a little bandage. And two, his pillow was not a pillow but rather Sora’s stomach.

A brief flash of memory brought an image of the both of them sitting on the bed, she was cleaning his wound…because “ _I fell”_ , his mind finished.

He had fallen trying to impress her by kicking a…ball? _“Where did I get a ball in the street?”_ was immediately followed by _“What a moron”._ He tried rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and smiled despite himself at his own stupidity.

Sora was sound asleep, unaware that he had been using her as a pillow. Taichi stared at her, something was off but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

He fell asleep next to her, that was obvious…but weird. Every other time he had slept at her house it had been on the couch in the living room, or in some futon next to her bed. He tried to think but his head pounded. If there was any doubt about how much he drank last night, there was none now.

Logic said that both had fallen asleep on her bed after she had cured his hand. They were probably really drunk or tired, or both, and didn’t realize to bring a futon.

But that was not what bothered him, he squinted trying to think, and for some reason this made him think of his dream. _“Oh god”_ alarmed he looked quickly down to his pants, and breathed in relief. Could you imagine if she had woken up to get water or use the bathroom, and had seen him sleeping with a boner? “ _God, that’d have been so embarrassing.”_

His zip was open though, and his pants were halfway down his ass. He guessed that he could have done that when he was sleeping, to make himself more comfortable. But that idea, although reasonable, didn’t sit quiet right.

Well, at least he was boner free; _“so everything is fine”_ he thought adjusting them to his waist and zipping them. He turned towards her to wake her up, maybe joke about the fact that he was missing half the night, and hoped that he didn’t do anything more stupid in front of her beside the fall.

He was about to shake her shoulder, stopping just before touching her to stare at her for a few seconds. She was so beautiful his heart hurt a little. She was sleeping soundly, head turn to the side, lips slightly parted, deep breaths that made her chest move up and down, one hand was extended at her side, the other on her stomach above the aquamarine top she was weari-

It hit him.

Her clothes. That was what was off, the thing that was bothering him. Her clothes were the same she was wearing in his dream.

He shook his head. “ _Nono, wait”_. Images flooded through his mind in random order: walking on the street, kissing, the party at Jyou’s, making out, hands touching skin, Sora being sad, more kissing, he thrusting inside her, Sora moaning, she looking for something in the bathroom, her naked breasts, more kissing, more thrusting while grabbing her hips, bites, moans, more naked thrusting, walking home holding…

He was shaking, hand still halfway towards her. “ _No, that was the dream”_ , he told himself, but the way everything was blend together made it feel like _everything was_ real.

“ _But she is_ wearing _the clothes_ ” clarified his mind. She got naked in his dream, if she was dressed now, what he was thinking couldn’t have happened. Except she could have gotten dressed again after. _After._

_"AFTER WHAT? After having sex. NO. Your pants were down."_

His head hurt, and now he was not even sure if _he_ had been naked or not in the dream. He tried telling himself that the sex part was from the dream, but none of his dreams had ever felt so real afterwards.  
 _“No, no, you slept next to her, her warmth was next to you, you were using her as a freaking pillow, THAT’S why it feels real. NOTHING HAPPENED”_

But he was terrified of waking her up now.

His phone rang.

Panic seized him, his body reacting on his own and before he could process what was happening, took his phone out of his pocket and ended the call. There was pounding in his ears and his heart had never beaten so fast. He took his eyes off the phone to look at Sora. She hummed a little and shifted, turning only her head the other side, otherwise she was sound asleep. He sighed relieved and realized that he hadn’t been breathing.

From the corner of his eyes he saw light from his phone coming alive again, and with shaky hands turned down the volume all the way so only the vibration remained. His mother was calling him. He started texting her to tell her everything was fine, that he had overslept at a friend’s. In any other circumstance, saying it was at Sora’s would have been fine, but right now he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was halfway through the message when his nervous and shaky hands betrayed him and the phone slipped through his fingers and fell on the mattress. He cursed himself, and was about to grab it when noticed a small white piece of clothing all wrinkled besides it. He grabbed that instead, but let it go just as it was unfolding in his hand.

Sora’s underwear.

 _“If we didn’t have sex why is Sora’s underwear thrown in the bed”_ was the first thing that came to his mind, however much he tried denying it.

 _“She could’ve dropped it when she was organizing her clothes”;_ stated the other part of his brain desperately trying to find a logic explanation.

But when he looked at her again, to where her skirt was, he knew. He _knew_ she was wearing nothing under it.

His mouth and throat were dry. _“This isn’t happening. This CAN’T be happening”_ , but there was no doubt in his mind that that was the underwear she was wearing last night, and at some point he took it o-.  
  
 _HE TOOK IT OFF._

It hit him like a slap in the face and he knew this was also true.

His brain was a mess. It was still trying to convince him that he dreamt it, but at the same time he couldn’t deny those two facts. The room was spinning, his head was throbbing and he wanted to throw up.

His body moved on his own. “ _This isn’t happening”_ He stood up and was now in the middle of the room, “ _This isn’t happening”_ then in the living the room. _“This isn’t happening”,_ and finally outside the apartment.

His mind was in a constant loop and there was no room for nothing more. He climbed down the stairs fast, crossed the street and threw up besides some tree. Head down, hands on his knees and he saw that he was wearing his sneakers. It had been less than a minute ago but he couldn’t even remember putting those.

He wiped his mouth, and was trying to at least recompose his breathing, when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. A flash of panic rushed through him because he was _sure_ Sora was calling him to ask him why the hell he was taking off. But when he saw the dial it was his mother again, and remembered that he hadn’t finished typing before, so he picked up.

“Hi” he said feeling he didn’t recognize his own voice.

“Taichi! Where are you?” he knew she was speaking normal, but to him it sounded like she was yelling “Why didn’t you pick up before?”

“S-sorry, I couldn’t” he started walking on instinct, just needing to move ”I over slept”

“Where are you?”

“I…” he looked at Sora’s apartment, not in front of him anymore “I stayed at Yamato’s”

“Oh okay, are you coming to lunch?”

“Y-yeah”

“Great! I’ll put more food then” she hung up.

Taichi stared at his phone. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember when he had grabbed it either.

He started walking toward his home feeling miserable. What was he doing? Was he really going to leave?

But what other thing was he going to do? Go back, ring the doorbell, and thus revealing that _he had left_ , and ask her if they had sex last night?

Even now it sounded unbelievable. Besides, the way the wind felt nice against his skin, made his head clearer even. The sounds and movements of the street, people on their peaceful Sunday routine. Everything was making the situation feel even more surreal now, and that it had all been a dream seemed easier to believe. Except...

 _“She wasn’t wearing any underwear because I took it off_.”

He knew that was real. He didn’t know how, or why, but that had happened.

Besides, now that he was more relaxed and in tune with his own body, he felt his lips were sore. Therefore confirming that the kissing part may as well be real too.

_We kissed…_

Damn it, the images in his mind were all mix together and he wasn’t able to distinguish which ones were real and which ones were part of his fantasies. He was also aware that there even were other dreams thrown in the mix, because in some of them the kissing happened in his room, and that was just physically impossible. “ _But maybe the location was the dream but not what had happened there, and I’m mixing actions with places…??_ ”

For the first time he wished he was the smart one.

The smell of ramen was the first thing that welcomed him when he arrived home. He didn’t know how hungry he was until his stomach grumbled.

“Oh you’re earlier!” his mom said in surprise, turning to look at him. “ _Crap”._ He was earlier because he was supposed to be at Yamato’s when they talked.

“Um, yeah…Actually I was already on the street when we talked” he said scratching his head. He guessed that was not _technically_ a lie.

He passed by Hikari and their father watching TV and went to stand next to her.

“How long till we eat? I wanted to shower before”

“Oh sure, there is time” she said stirring the food.

Once inside his room Taichi started looking through his closet for a shirt and shorts. He grabbed ones that were old, the shirt was a little faded, but they were comfortable, and he needed comfortable right now.

When he turned around he saw Hikari leaning on the bedroom door, arms crossed, giving him a mistrustful look.

“What?”

“Why does mom think you stayed at Yamato’s?”

_FUCK_

He wanted to lie, but nothing remotely believable came to his mind. She knew he had walked Sora home, she knew he was supposed to come back, and that the others all went to their respective homes.

“If you are thinking of lying to me don’t even bother, you suck at it”

“Nothing happened!” he blurted out louder than intended.

“What?”

“Nothing, I mean, yes, I lied” he said a little embarrassed at being caught “I stayed at Sora’s”

“Then why did you lie? You’ve stayed at her place many times”

“Yeah, but” he shifted in his place “I haven’t done that since I was like 15, it’d be weird now” he said, which was true.

“Hmmm” Hikari squinted, he could see she was not convinced. She crossed the bedroom and sat on the bed. The mistrust not leaving her face “Did you do something stupid? Like throwing up on her or something?”

“I was like eight when that happened! And it wasn’t _on_ her, it was on her hat”

“Fine!” Hikari said holding her arms up in exasperation “Don’t tell me” she stood up and went to the door to leave, but turned “Oh! And I’m tired of you bothering Takeru, so if you don’t cut it out I’m gonna start doing the same to Sora” she winked and stuck her tongue out at him

“It’s not the same!” he said defensively

She teased “I’m not so suuure, I mean, you _did_ spend the nig-”

He ran out of the room, leaving her hanging by the doorway, and closed the bathroom’s door so he couldn’t hear her finish.

Once in the bathroom, he got inside the shower and let the water run, feeling how it beat against his body. He rested his forehead against the tile wall, and stood there not moving. The steam started filling the room, and he could feel how the warm was making his muscles start to relax. This whole situation was crazy, he needed to calm down and try remembering it. Even between the kiss and the taking off her clothes, other things had to have happen. He needed to remember that in between also.

Plus, _his_ own pants had been down. He couldn’t believe it…his first time having sex was with the girl he had forever been in love with, and he was not even able to remember it. _“ I can’t tell if the universe hates me or not”_

He started bathing to distract himself.

 _“It was a can!”_ He suddenly remembered, not ball, but a can he found on the street.

He smiled to himself considering it as a step in the right direction, and finished bathing more calm now.

Once finished, he sat on the toilet, lid down, and, elbows on knees, grabbing his head. Drops from his hair falling to the floor. He could still feel the soreness in his lips and brought his fingers to touch them. _“We kissed”_. Taichi smiled without realizing, he had always wanted to kiss her. Ever since he knew that he no longer saw her as only a friend. He had spent a few years convinced that because they had been best friends, they could become boyfriend and girlfriend. Thinking their relationship would eventually and naturally go in that direction. He had even been confident in confessing. And then she had dated their best friend.

He had never been mad at them, he care deeply for both. But he couldn’t deny the relief he had felt when they had broken up. Hikari was the only one he had confessed to this out loud, although he suspected that Yamato knew too. Sometime later they had talked about his feelings for Sora.

The whole group knew the reason they had broken up was because they worked better as friends, but Yamato had confessed to Taichi one day, that at least he had had another reason.

_“We are much better friends” Yamato had said “and besides, I don’t think I could have ever felt for her the same way you do” it had took Taichi by surprise, who had just stared at his friend open mouthed “Once you see it is just so damn obvious. You love her”_

So no, he hadn’t been mad at them. What had crushed him had been realizing that she had never liked him the way he did her, and probably never would.

Fingers still on his lips, he wanted to know how the kiss had started. Wanted to know what had happened that made him kiss her. Because kisses were always the start, and whatever had happened last night-

“ _I went down on her.”_

It hit him like a slap in the face. It felt like the world just stood still only for the few drops falling from his hair. Suddenly the images were crystal clear. His mouth kissing her below the breasts, running through her flat stomach and further south. He remembered grazing the skin of her thighs with his teeth before-

 _“BUT NO no, NO, that was the_ OTHER _dream.”_ He had had a dream of him doing that the day before, he was just confusing both. Except he wasn’t, because it felt as true as remembering that it had been a can instead of a ball.

He felt in the verge of completely freaking out. His body moved on his own only to grab his face with both hands. His eyes were wide open and staring at nothing in particular. The most unbelievable thing was that if he focused enough, he could actually _feel_ Sora’s legs on his shoulders, and the heat coming between them. Although that last one could be from his face burning up.

Part of him was pointlessly trying to convince himself that he was confusing it with the dream. Except now he remembered how in that moment he had thought how different it was from his dream, because the real Sora had hair down there. And how that had made him even harder.

As he was getting now.

“ _Come on, are you kidding me?”_

This was becoming too much to handle right now, so his body finally found the impulse to move and quickly entered the shower again, and without hesitate, opened the cold tap.

He dressed, dried his hair with the towel, and hoped no one noticed that he had turned the shower on twice.

At lunch he could barely grab a bite. At least his parents were distracted by hearing Hikari tell them everything (minus the alcohol) about last night, and he gave short and flat answers only when asked. Luckily his parents didn’t notice how absorbed he was in his thoughts, but Hikari could tell.

Lunch passed normally. They helped clean the table, and afterwards each one went to their own business; his father went to take a nap, her mother to visit some neighbor, and Hikari locked herself up in the computer room. He said he was going to take a nap too, but he could already predict sleep wouldn’t come, so he just closed the curtains and lay on his side on the bed, looking at the wall.

He couldn’t stop thinking about it; not that he wasn’t already doing that, but now it was somehow worse. His face had been between Sora’s legs. Without realizing he took his phone out from the back pocket of his shorts, and scrolled through his contacts. He clicked at hers and just stood staring at Sora’s picture contact. She had his goggles on her. She had been making fun of him one day after school, impersonating him for the way he had talked to Koushiro earlier. He had taken the photo to made fun of her in return. But the truth was that he loved that photo, and had loved it even more when a few days later she had started using it as her personal picture. Neither had said anything after, but he liked the complicity about it. Like there was a secret between the two, because everyone who knew them knew those were his.

_“We fucked. How do you like THAT for complicity”_

_“PROBABLY”_ he reminded himself. Seeing her picture made it easier now to imagine her expressions from last night. Her moans, the way she bit her lips, her body contorting. He rubbed his face on the pillow, not sure what to feel. How was he supposed to feel? His fantasy literally had come true. He was not sure if what troubled him is the fact that he couldn’t remember it (at least not all of it), or that he didn’t know _how_ it had happened. Had he confessed? Had they both been so wasted that it had just happened?

He really hoped more memories would come to him later, and continued staring at her picture. Had they really done it? The memories of them having sex didn’t feel as real as…as eating her out felt. He left the phone alone and turned on his back. He still couldn’t wrap his mind about that.

And as some cruel joke of his mind, he started picturing it. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Part of him wanted to dive into that memory, because a part of him was somewhat proud of himself, although he didn’t know exactly what to do with that. A self congratulatory smile wanted to make its way to his lips at the thought that he had been the author of those moans. He _had made her_ moan. The sound went directly, although not only, to his head.

_“Fuck”_

He grabbed his phone again and started scrolling through social media for distraction. For some reason he didn’t want to think of right now, using those memories to jack off felt wrong.

For the first time since this morning he wondered what had happened to her when she woke up. She should already be up by now. Would she remember? She almost never drank as much as him. _“Should I…just call..?”_

This was too confusing, too many feelings for him to deal with. He hated not knowing how he was feeling or how he should feel.

Maybe he could call one of his friends from the football team and suggest to just go jogging or threw some passes. He wasn’t really in the mood for anything, but if he didn’t do something that distracted him he was going to go crazy.

_What if…_

He shook that feeling off and after a few taps he sent a message to the football team group chat.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Okay, maybe not call him, but I could go to his hous-“

“NO! HE needs to come to YOU!” Mimi yelled.

Sora sighed; she couldn’t believe this was happening either.

When Sora first woke up, alone, her first thought was that Taichi was in the bathroom, to later realize he wasn’t even in the house. She had been left standing in the middle of her living room not knowing what to do with this information.

Against doubt, she had thought that maybe he had left to buy something to eat (which was unlikely, and besides there was food in the house). He could be ringing the door bell any minute now and act all goofy saying he hadn’t wanted to wake her up. She hadn’t had known at what time he had left, but when an hour passed by and there was still no news of him she knew he was not coming back.

She had sat in the middle of the room. He had actually left. She had felt not only alone but abandoned. And confused.

She had gone back walking slowly to her room and stared at the unarmed bed, pillows scattered.

Unlike Taichi, Sora remembered everything.

Sora sighed and started tiding up her room before her mother would come home. She had stood still while grabbing one of the pillows. To have woken up needing to look through the sheets for her underwear had been bizarre.

Her mind was divided between trying to think what could possibly have gone through his mind, and the flood of mental pictures from last night. They had made out, she had felt him hard, and he had…

She needed to sit down.

Taichi had caught her completely off guard, and she had been in shock to react when he pulled her underwear down and took it off. She hadn’t known what to expect.

When he had touched her there it had been too overwhelming for her, besides she hadn’t got that far with anybody. She had been nervous, not that she hadn’t liked it. And she hadn’t technically removed his hand or say she didn’t want it either. Thinking it now, it had been a rash assumption on her part that in his rather drunken state he had understood that just because she changed their position a bit.

It kind of amazed her how he hadn’t even hesitated or tip around it either. A sudden loud gasp escaped her throat when she had felt his mouth on her. Felt his tongue on her, _in_ her. Stopping briefly to give her gentle bites in the inside of her legs, just to go up to her vagina again.

Sora didn’t know from where she had taken the courage to, being as embarrassed as never before, but at the same time barely able to hold her urge any longer, had grabbed him by the hair to bring his face a bit upward.

And he had never even stopped what he was doing when she had done that, not even to look at her or ask, he had just dragged his mouth obediently to where she guided him. She had never felt more aroused.

Unrestrained and repeated moans had escaped from her mouth, which were accompanied by a trembling whine when a warm sensation had started forming in the center or her body. Her back arching as it increased its intensity

At one moment she had noticed that he could tell he was hitting the right spot, so he had grabbed one of her legs and put it above his shoulder for better adjustment, grabbing her thighs, and had started sucking and licking more intensely and faster. Sora had felt her whole body shake and had grabbed the sheets so hard that she had pulled them from under the mattress. She had screamed as the pleasure spread in waves through her whole body

Even thinking about it now made her shiver. She buried her face in the pillow, and hoped her neighbors hadn’t hear anything.

And she also wanted to know why he had left.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a notification from her phone. It was a message from Mimi, and there were another three missed messages from her. She read them in order

“Sooo?” plus a heart emoticon. It had been sent last night, when they were in her room, and she was supposed to already have arrived home.

“Did he drool all over at your non-existent skirt?? hope you didn’t answer me because you were BUSY” from this morning.

“you better spill the tea!” from two hours ago.

“everything ok?” was the one from right now.

Sora half smiled despite herself. Mimi probably thought that Sora had confessed or something last night, and that things hadn’t turned out all right when she hadn’t answered. Well…

She started typing “Sorry!” doubted on what to put next, and after a moment of hesitation she decided to go straight to the point “We kinda spent the night together”

She saw Mimi typing. Then deleting it. Typed again, deleting. And then Mimi was calling her. Sora picked up instinctively.

“YOU GUYS WHAT?!” Mimi screaeds and Sora actually had to move her phone away from her ear.

“Uhmm...yeah, we went to my place, he had a-” she started to explain.

“OH OMY GOD!! Tell me, tell me EVERYTHING. No, wait!” Sora heard shuffle noises of movement and footsteps “I’m coming over!”

“You don’t reall-“

“Oh god is HE STILL THERE?”

Sora bit her lip and felt a pang in her chest “N-no…he already left”

“Then I’m coming over, I’d be there in a bit” and just hung up.

She was left staring at her phone. Her mother wouldn’t be here for another hour or two, and the house just felt so lonely right now. Maybe Mimi coming over wasn’t such a bad idea…

She leaned back on her bed, now feeling a little better knowing that she would have some company, and closed her eyes as her minds went back to last night.

Sora had been trying to catch her breath, feeling a little drowsy, with all the weight of the night coming down on her also. She had felt so tired she could fall asleep in any second. Her hand still tangled on his hair, and she had felt him move upward a little. He had put his head in her stomach, rubbing his face against it, and had started moaning and grunting more. She hadn’t been able to see very well from her position, but the arm that wasn’t by her side grabbing her had gone out of her sight under him, and it was moving fast.

Sora’s eyes had widened and she took a deep shaky breath. She had gazed toward the ceiling, either way it wasn’t like she could see him from her angle. A weird relief had taken hold of her at realizing that nothing more would be happening.

Suddenly the hand by her side had moved to her breast and grabbed it, hard. She had been about to protest but it hadn’t last much. She had heard him moan louder,had _felt_ it, open mouthed against her stomach. At the same time something wet and cold had trickled against one of her legs, and his body just dropped relaxed on top of her.

The last thing she remembered before drifting off to sleep was playing with his hair, listening to his humming.

Sora opened her eyes at remembering that last part, sat down and looked at the sheets. _“More than tiding up I should better wash these”._ So she got up and did just that. After putting the washing machine on, she looked at the time and saw she still had time to shower before her friend arrived.

She was just finishing putting on her dress when the doorbell rang. Sora opened the door and Mimi entered without waiting for an invitation.

“I can’t BELIEVE I actually got worried when you didn’t answer. I mean I was SURE something was going to happen when you two left together.” She dropped her bag in the couch, and still standing, kept talking “And plus Hikari _looked_ at me in a way before we all left, that, you know, I just KNEW” she stopped, stood still and heard the washing machine. Recognizing the sound, looked at Sora, then at the door to her room, and saw the naked mattress. “WHAAT! YOU GUYS ACTUALLY DID IT” Her friend was talking so fast, Sora just stared. Mimi couldn’t stop making gestures, “WOW. And here I was prepared for some heavy make out and call it a big deal. GIRL I didn’t know you had it in you, I mean you got all freaked out because I shortened your skirt” She sat down, exhausted “GOD I’ve been waiting AGES for this, all that sexual tension between you guys. So, how was it?! Tell me EVERYTHING.”

Sora was staring at her, it was finally her time to talk and she didn’t even know how to start.

“Uhm…Actually, we, uh…” She saw Mimi staring at her in complete concentration “We didn’t, _technically_ …uh did that.” She finished, not knowing exactly how to proceed.

Mimi looked confused “Why are you washing your shits now then?”

Sora shifted in her place, feeling the sadness returning. “Because, uh, we did… I mean” she bit her lip and looked down. She felt ashamed and she couldn’t figure out why.

Mimi leaned forward “Sora?” she looked worried now “Sora, what happened?”

And she had told her.

Now they were both sitting on the floor in her room. Her mom had arrived and they had taken the conversation to the bedroom.

Sora had told her pretty much everything since they said had goodbye at Jyou’s. Taichi’s fall and scraping his hand, their conversation in her room, and all that had happened afterwards, to her waking up alone.

“I need to talk to him” she said not really fond of the idea

“You’re not calling him” Mimi stated

“Okey, maybe not call him” actually she thought it’d be more awkward over the phone, if that is even possible at this time. “ but I could go to his hous-“

“NO! HE needs to come to YOU!”

Sora sighed, looked down and said nothing.

“He, for whatever reason, took off, HE is the one that owes YOU an explanation”

Sora had thought about it a bit in the shower before Mimi got here.

“I mean, he _does_ sometimes get together with the football team on Sundays to practice and…”

“And what? He was in THAT much of a hurry that he couldn’t leave at least a note saying ‘Got to go, thanks for the dessert by the way’?”

“Mimi!” Sora reproached, embarrassed. Then brought her fingers to the bridge of her nose and sighed “I don’t know…I mean, the only thing I can think of is…” She hesitated; she didn’t want to say it out loud, because she felt somehow that would make it more real. “I never got to tell him that I liked him…and he _did_ say he didn’t want a girlfriend. Plus _I_ kissed _him_ when he wanted to leave…what if…what if he thinks it was just drunken sex?”

“When guys want drunken sex cause they’re horny they just fuck you and be done with it, they don’t eat you out and then pathetically jack off on your leg.” Mimi flat out said “But I see what you mean” Sora stared at her, and part of her is afraid when her friend saw this as a possibility.

“Calling it ´pathetically ´wasn’t necessary though” Sora whispered, feeling a little embarrassed on his behalf.

“Meh”

“Oh god” Sora suddenly grabbed her head “What if I made things awkward forever? I mean, I can’t tell him _now_ that I like him, can I? Not after that I know he doesn’t want a relationship, that’d only make things even weirder!” An idea crossed her mind “What if he thinks that I just want to have casual sex with him once in a while?!” she realized she was speaking louder, and that her mother could hear her, so she lowered her voice. “And what if he wants to do it again? You know, like actually do what we didn’t do. I can’t say no!” Mimi looked at her “I mean, yeah, I _know I can_ say no. But that’d be even weirder when I was the one that initiated whatever this was. He is gonna think I was the horny one, and he just _happened_ to be there”

“Okay, you’re freaking out” Mimi stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.“First of all, Taichi is dumb, but he is not _that_ dumb, I doubt he thinks that. And okay yeah, he may have gotten better with the years, but he is still an impulsive, act now-think later kind of guy, so there is a tiny possibility of this being a drunken thing...” Mimi continued “ _But_ , I’ve seen how he acts around you, and _looks_ at you…and besides, didn’t you say that you thought the girl he likes could be you?”

“Then _why did he leave_?” Sora cried.

Mimi said nothing but hugged her, and they stayed like that in silence for a few seconds.

“I’m going to see him at school tomorrow…What if things become unbearably awkward between us?” she sniffed “I don’t want to lose him, he is my best friend” She felt a little punch in the arm and corrected herself “My best _guy_ friend”

“Look, whatever happens, I can assure you he doesn’t want that either, but you guys need to talk about it. And…and maybe you should tell him how you feel. I don’t know why he left, like I said, he is dumb. But I know he doesn’t want you hurting” she pulled away from the hug “Just try to let him be the one who approaches first, okay? I know he made you come, but he still owes you an explanation”

Sora chuckled and wanted to protest at that, but only said “Yeah, okay, thanks Mimi”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Taichi was coming home after training. At last, two of his teammates had agreed to meet. They had played for a few hours, two at defense and one attacking. It had been fine. At least it had accomplished what he wanted, but now that he was coming back home his thoughts were returning. It felt like déjà vu, except for the fact that now new -not so pleasant- thoughts were starting to appear also.

_What if_

He shook his head. The rest of the day he acted on autopilot. He got home, showered again, played some videogames, ate and watched TV with his dad. But now he was sitting in his room alone in silence. His parents had already gotten to bed, and the only sound in the house was the one of the shower running. It was becoming more and more difficult to ignore his thoughts, and he found himself again looking at Sora’s contact picture on his phone.

They hadn’t talked all day. He had been so caught up in trying to remember, in thinking how unbelievable the situation was, and at the same time trying _not_ to think about it, that when he had noticed, already hours had passed. Not having heard from her all day had started to weight on him. And he knows this was mostly his fault, he hadn’t reached out to her either.

He had told himself that he hadn’t had wanted to talk to her before getting his memory back, because that‘d just mess everything up even more. That he hadn’t wanted to call her to ask what _he_ had done, because that felt irresponsible, and if she wasn’t mad at him then, she would definitely get pissed off after.  
That he wanted to think this through before reaching out to her.

But now he was wondering if that had really been the real reason for why he hadn’t wanted to call her…

Because an idea had started forming earlier, one that his mind was desperately trying to make up excuses for.

He was almost positive that she hadn’t been as drunk as he had, plus this silence from her part... It was starting to scare him, and the idea was getting harder and harder to push away.

_“What if I…_

“Are you okay?” her question startled him; he turned around at the same time he put his phone down, to see her sister in her pajamas, towel in her head, standing beside him. He knew she had seen him looking at the photo.

“What do you mean?” he asksedknowing it was a dumb question and she wasn’t buying it.

She leaned on the desk “You’ve been acting weird all day, all defensive and jumpy, plus that lie about staying at Yamato’s…” she let it trailed off, but when she saw he was not answering she continued “Did something happen with Sora?” Still nothing.

Hikari could tell that Sora had been acting different around his brother for a few months now. Getting all giggly at his jokes, touching his arm, teasing him more often…that thing with the skirt last night, who else could she have done that for? It was obvious to Hikari this was some sort of subtle flirting on her part.

That’s why she became more comfortable in teasing him about her lately. She was sure this time something could happen between the two.

“Did you tell her?”

He didn’t need to ask what she was referring to with that, besides…. “ _did I? Guess that is other thing that gets added up to the list”._ “I don’t know” was all he could answer.

She opened her mouth to talk, probably to ask him what he meant by that, but he cut her off “Let’s just go to sleep, okay?”

“Okay” was all she said. She knew when not to push him. Sometimes he needed his space and she knew he would talk to her if he needed to

In bed, he didn’t know how much time had passed, an hour? Two? Twenty minutes? He was looking at the wall next to his bed. In the dark, with no other noises other than his breathing, different thoughts and ideas are running wild in his mind. He didn’t want to go there, but he wasn’t able to contain it much longer.

Sora hadn’t called him. Throughout the day, he couldn’t remember anything else, but the worst of all was not being able to remember how it had started, and it was torturing him. Because Sora didn’t see him that way. Because Sora didn’t like him. He was the one pinning after her. So why would she want to do those things with him? He clenched his jaw. Because what if…what if she hadn’t wanted to? What if he had…?

He scrubbed his face.

_"No. Nono, no. I’d never…”_

And to top of it all, he had _left_. And now he had no idea how she felt or what she was thinking. They could’ve talked, this could have been sorted out, or not, and in that case just blow up their entire friendship. But at least he would have known.

He told himself that no matter how many scenarios he could think of, he was never going to know unless he talked to her.

He wanted to punch himself _“How could I have left?”_

He felt like crying, how could he have fuck it up so bad? The idea of having hurt her. He didn’t know how he would live with that.

_“No, shut up, shut up. I didn’t do that”_

He needed to talk to her tomorrow first thing. He was going to apologize, say sorry, and tell her the truth. Either she would tell him what had happened and they'd find some way to work it out or, she'd tell him she didn’t want to see his face ever again, in which case, he’ll know.

But even though having reached to that conclusion his head didn’t stop. Not talking to her ever again? Still attempting to remember. “ _What if she hates me?_ ” The kissing. What if..?

At some point he managed to fall asleep, for all the good that it did.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

There were still a few minutes left before the bell rang and classes started. Sora was talking with some girls from her class, when she saw Taichi coming from the hallway. They exchanged a brief glance but Sora couldn’t decipher what his look meant. He stopped and waved at her in an uncommonly timid way with his hand. He wanted to talk to her. “ _So this is him taking the first step, isn’t it?”_ Sora thought as she excused herself from the other girls, took a breath that did nothing to soothe the anxiety in her chest, and walked towards him.

“H-hi” he said.

_"Is he actually more nervous than I am?”_

“Hi” she said back and crossed her arms in an attempt to steady herself.

“So, uh, I wanted to…” he started, opened his mouth to say something else but closed it. “I-I’m actually….” He started again. He was struggling with what he wanted to say, and Sora wanted to punch herself for having sympathy for him so easily. He clenched the strap from his bag, sighed and looked directly at her “I’m sorry”

Sora felt conflicted; she could tell he was being honest. Besides, now that she looked closer at him, she could see he had bag under his eyes, and actually looked a mess, like he had barely slept all night. She could already feel herself starting to forgive him for whatever reason he had had for leaving. But she was still not entirely pleased, and besides she needed to be honest with him too about how she felt.

He was staring directly at her now, with a sort of questioning look, like he didn’t know if it was her turn to talk or he should continued. This hesitant attitude was unlike his usual self.

She sighed, “I think, we should meet after class…” and half smiled at him.

“…and talk about it, and besides there is other stuff I need to tell you...” 

“It’s just I’m not sure what really happened, and I wanted to be before call-“

They talked at the same time.

“What?”

“Uh?”

“What did you just say?”

He didn’t want to repeat it, but he had promised himself last night that he was going to be honest with her. “I-I don’t really remember…what happened”

An uncontrollable nervous laugh escaped Sora, surprising him. _“How did I not think of that?!”_ “Are you kidding, right?” is what she said, although it sounded said more to herself. _“He doesn’t fucking remember, that explains pretty much everything. He doesn’t even_ know _that something happened?”_ She couldn’t believe it.

“Sora..?”

She couldn’t deal with this information right now. The bell rang.

“We need to get to class” she said and started walking

“S-sora, wait!”

“We’ll be late” she didn’t turn to look at him while saying it.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When classes ended he waited for her at the school’s doors. It had been already ten minutes. The flow of students leaving getting scarcer each time, with the ones who knew him waving goodbye when they passed by him. But there was no sight of Sora. Taichi sighed; she had clearly changed her mind about talking. For a minute he thought things could be fixed, now he was starting to doubt again.

“If you’re waiting for Sora, she already left” he turned around to find Yamato standing beside him.

“What? But...Damn it.” He was getting worried. This new feeling of being avoided by her was new and horrible. He hit the back of his head against the wall, and sighed defeated. ”I just keep fucking it up”

“What happened between you two? I saw you guys talking before class and you looked weird” Yamato said, but Taichi remained silent. “I tried asking her at recess buy she said everything was fine, like she thinks I don’t know her and couldn’t tell she was clearly lying. So you better not pull the same crap at me”, Yamato stared at him in a way that said this was not debatable.

So Taichi took a deep breath and told him.

They were sitting against the wall.

“I’m more convinced now that maybe we didn’t actually… do it” he finished. “But...”he stopped, swallowed, not sure if he could actually say this out loud.

“What?”

“What if I…you know…If I… hurt her?”

Yamato blinked, taken aback “You’re not seriously thinking that, are you?”

Taichi grabbed his head “I don’t know, I don’t want to. She kinda smiled at me before, and she didn’t look _that_ upset or unsettled, and-

“Why is it so hard for you to believe that she could have feelings for you too?” Yamato cuts him off

“What? Are you serious?” he snorted with a hollow laugh.

“Come on” Yamato rolled his eyes “We’ve been over this before! She has been acting differently around you for a _long_ time. I’ve told you already, and don’t act like you haven’t noticed it either, you just keep making up excuses to not believe it”

“Because I don’t want to!” he said raising his voice “I mean, I thought I was sure last time and look how that turned out to be-fuck” He stopped suddenly, like he had just realized who he was talking to “Sorry, I didn’t mea-

“I know, don’t worry about it”

Neither said anything for a moment

“Look, that was like three years ago” Yamato started. “We’ve all change since. Why couldn’t her feeling have changed too?” he waited, letting his words sink in in his friend’s head, before continue “Why can’t it be that _whatever_ happened the other night, she may have wanted it?” When he saw his friend was still not saying anything, Yamato sighed “Either way, you need to talk to her. And may I recommend that you have a _really_ _honest_ conversation with her”

“Is this your way of saying that I should confess?”

“It is. And it has been for weeks already actually”

Taichi made a snarky face at him.

“You’re so mature”

“FINE” Taichi stood up “I’ll go talk to her. I need to know what happened, and how she feels about it, and…” he hesitated “and…about me. Whatever happens, as long as she doesn’t hate me…I think I can take it”

Yamato stood up also. “Are you going now?”

Taichi nodded.

Yamato patted him on the shoulder before leaving, and yelled a ‘Good luck’ waving his hand without turning.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

His hand shook before ringing the doorbell. _“Come on, don’t be a coward”_ and rang it before any other thought could appear. But when the door opened her mother was the one who greetd him.

“Taichi! Hi, how are you?”

“Oh, hi, uh, fine thanks, I actually wanted to-”

“Sora is not home yet” she cut him off.

“Oh...”

“She texted me a while ago that she met with some friends from tennis after school. But said she was coming before dinner” She could see this wasn’t what he was expecting “Would you like to wait inside? Or I can tell her you were here”

“No, no, it’s okay, I can text her” he said “It’s fine, thanks! Sorry to bother you, goodbye!” and after saying him goodbye too, she closed the door.

He walked to the stairs, but thought twice about it and sat down at the top.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was past dawn when Sora arrived and saw him from below. They stared at each other before she walked up the stairs, and he stood up waiting for her. She started feeling anxious, but at the same time glad and kind of relieved. It wasn’t just the fact that he had come looking for her and waited who knows how long, but that showing up unexpected at her place like this was so like him. And it was good a contrast from the timid, defeated and so unlike Taichi she had witnessed this last few days. Her chest fluttered as she felt something was about to change.

When they were at finally at the same level, one in front of the other, neither said anything for a few seconds.

“I wanted to apologize” he started, almost blurting it out “…again. I just want to explain myself, and if…if you don’t want to talk to me or be my friend ever again, I…I’ll understand” he said after a pause, gaze down “What I said before about not remembering, it’s not exactly true. I remember…some stuff” his hands opening and closing “But everything is a mess, and I’m not sure what is real or not. And that’s one of the reasons I didn’t call you or...” he stopoed, realizing he was blabbering and going off tracks. “Damn it” he cursed, trying to recompose his thoughts again.

Sora was looking at him intently, not sure what he was trying to say, but she felt for him. Like at school, he was struggling and seemed… scared? But she was tired of this tipping around so she just asked the question that had been troubling her all these days.

“Why did you leave?” she asked, cutting him off when he was about to start again. Her words were soft but not low enough to not be heard.

He stared at her, mouth half opened, and she could tell he was hurt by this.

Taichi sighed “I don’t know”. This was the moment of truth; he needed to ask her, he _needed_ to know “I freaked out. My pants were down, you weren’t wearing any underwear, I couldn’t remember shit, my phone was ringing. It just… before I realized, I was out of the apartment.” He paused for a few seconds to think on how to continue. “All I can remember is the kissing, and uh…me going….you know, me going down…” He swallowed and took a deep breath “Sora, I…I need to know, did we have-” he thought better of it “…did I hurt you?”

Sora blinked. _“What?”_ stunned, and her heart broke a little looking at him. White knuckles of how hard he was grabbing the strap of his bag, eyes widened, like her answer would probably determine the rest of his life.

“What? N-no” she started without thinking. She shook her head fiercely “No, oh my god, no, no”

“Oh thank god” he said with an overwhelming relief, and leaned back, almost collapsing, against the wall behind him. He rested his head against the wall, looking upward, eyes closed, and exhaled like this was his first time breathing properly in days.

She gave a few steps towards him and stood next to him against the wall. She stared at him, eyes still closed, before speaking “Did you really think that?” She still found it hard to believe.

He opened his eyes but was still looking upwards “I didn’t know what to think”

They stayed in silence, and even though it was not a completely comfortable one yet, it felt lighter. Like when the clouds dissipate after a storm, but you still couldn't see the sun.

“We didn’t have sex” she was the one to break the silence, and he turned to look at her “what you said you remember it’s pretty much everything that happened” she finished embarrassed, avoiding his gaze.

“Oh, that’s…that’s good, I think” he said, and hated that a part of him, even after every tortuous thought he had had, was disappointed by this. He just hoped she didn’t notice… when he suddenly remembered “Wait! Are you sure? M-my pants were…”

“Uhm” Sora scratched her cheek, even more embarrassed “You, you did that…alone. On my leg”

Taichi stared at her, she is still not looking at him, and face palmed himself. “Damn, that’s just pathetic” but he was relieved at the same time and laughed quietly at himself. He looked through his fingers, sees she was looking back at him with a little smile and they both chuckled.

He removed his hand. They felt almost like their normal selves.

“Anyway, I’m sorry…for starting this whole mess. Kissing you, and, well you know, the other stuff” He knew he had already apologized but he wanted, needed, for things to be okay with her “I- I really _really_ care about you Sora…”so if there was even “and I…” a chance they could ever be…

She looked puzzled.

“Wait, no, you think...? Taichi I…I kissed you.”

“What, why would you do that?” he blurted out without thinking, but when he met her eyes his breath stopped. All her attention was on him, and she had this look of longing, but calm at the same time. Her eyes were fixed on him like he was the only thing that existed right now.

“Because…I like you” she said timidly but never leaving his gaze. “I wanted to tell you the other night but I chickened out when you said you didn’t want a relationship” she chuckled nervously “so I guess it was kind of my fault, I’m the one who actually started it”

He stood in front of her, eyed widened. _“Did she just..?”_

“You like me?” She nodded, face red. Was this really happening? He wanted to punch himself to confirm this was not a dream. “As in like _like_ me?” He felt like an idiot. She nodded again.

_“She likes me”_

Taichi said nothing, feeling too overwhelmed to even process a thought. “ _She likes me. Sora likes me”_

“I don’t know how you feel…I mean, sometimes I think, you like me too, but I don’t know, maybe I was being stupid” she started talking fast looking at her hands. “Damn, maybe I shouldn’t have, I didn’t want to make things more awkward, I’m so sorr-”

Taichi kissed her.

He caught her mid sentence, gently grabbing her cheeks, and pressed their lips together. It was a little messy because he had moved fast, and she was talking, but also sweet. Unlike the other night, he was tender, although she could feel him holding back passion. Because for him this was actually their first kiss, Sora realizeed, and he wanted to show her he cared. Her chest fluttered with excitement and she smiled with their lips still together. Grabbing his arm to not only steady herself but as a reminder that this was real, that he was actually there, kissing her. Finally he broke the kiss, but not the hold, leaned in and put his forehead against hers. “Like you?” he laughed, opening his eyes to look at her “Sora, I freaking love you”

She kissed him back and hugged him. They stay like these for a few moments, between sweet kisses and smiles, like they were the only two people in the world. Their lips separated but neither wanting to break the hug. Her head was resting on his shoulder, and he could smell her shampoo.

“Hey” he said, face on her head “do you want to tell your mom you’ll skip dinner and go grab something with me?”

Sora laughed and he felt it reverberate through his whole body. It was wonderful. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“No, I’m asking you on a date for Saturday night, this is a non-date date”

She chuckled and moved away to look at him.

“Okay, but it is a school night so not too late” although she could already see herself breaking that rule too.

“Awesome!” he beamed “Just can we please make out at the end? My memories kind of need an update you know”

She hit him while they were both laughing. “We’ll see”

This already felt perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a great time writing this fic, so hope you guys enjoyed it!  
> I was kinda worry I made Taichi a little bit ooc on this last chapter, but well, I re read it a thousand times and changed things every time, so at least I can say I did my best.
> 
> I think I want to write a longer one, but I don’t know, for the moment I’m just adding up ideas. If you liked this one (or any review), please let me know in the comments or leave kudos (if you’re not in the mood of writing something haha), they make me really happy.
> 
> Lastly, english is not my native language and I didn’t have anyone to beta read it, so I apologize if there were many inconsistencies or misspells.  
> Anyway, thanks for reading! :)


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